722 physical caches have been published in Arkansas this year, so far. So the 350 caches placed in response to this challenge account for nearly 1/2 of those placed.

Again, WAY TO GO!

We need only 193 more physical caches published this year and we will match the total of all caches published in Arkansas last year.

Talking about all caches published so far this year in the state, there have been 56 events, 7 CITOs, 2 Earthcaches, and 1 Virtual published, which are not credited toward this challenge. This brings the total of caches published in Arkansas so far this year to 788.

Let's strive for a goal of at least 915 physical caches and more than 1000 caches of all types for this year!

"Wildness is a necessity." -- John Muir

"I would rather wake up in the middle of nowhere than in any city on earth." -- Steve McQueen

When this challenge was presented to the ArkGeo Members on January 1, 2017, we immediately decided to work on it, but didn't officially sign-up. Now that we have placed 9 new traditional caches and 3 puzzle caches, since the beginning of the year, we are publically accepting the challenge and completing it at the same time. Sadly, some of our favorite types of caches were excluded: earthcaches and events. In addition to the previously mentioned 12 new hides, RBG did have an earthcache published in Arkansas earlier this year to count as our 13th hide this year. As an ArkGeo Board Member she has also planned, hosted, attended, and/or helped other board members to host 6 events (including 2 CITO's) since Jan 1st. Events are such a great way to share fellowship with ArkGeo Members, visiting cachers, and new cachers. The CITO's provided community service as a Thank You to the communities that support our hobby.

We are thrilled that so many cachers have accepted this challenge to help enhance our game. Thank you to all who have ever hidden a cache that has added to our fun during our 10 years of caching. Geocaching has brought amazing experiences to our lives. We appreciate all the cache owners developing, placing, and maintaining hides. Thanks Old River Runner, for bringing the numbers to our attention and challenging us to hide more containers.

We have surpassed the number of caches published in 2016 in Arkansas (915), with 959 published to date this year! And we still have 25 days left in the year! Of those 959, 868 were physical caches (not events/CITOs, virtuals, or EarthCaches), and of those, 425 (48.9%) were placed by those ArkGeo members who accepted the challenge I made last January.

Here's the stats as of today (12/06/17):

Cache Owner

# Caches Placed by 12/06/17

Met Chalenge (at least 12 placed)

On Track to Meet Challenge (at least 11 placed)

bUTCH46

167

x

Sanders_Sooners

57

x

Old River Runner

32

x

rklmbl

28

x

Clark~Griswold

20

x

plsellers

16

x

Ssiler

15

x

granville_m

14

x

Nukeworker & Racquetball Girl

12

x

flowten

12

x

KoonandBud

11

x

ronwhite & mona

11

x

Tuttik and Joankv

9

backcountrytrack

8

Savoy

5

KNKINCABOT

4

Cloak.n.Dagger

3

butch724

1

Total =

425

Of the physical caches placed this year, 790 were traditionals; 58 were mystery / puzzles; 8 were multis; 6 were Wherigos; and 6 were letterbox-hybrids.

Of the non-physical caches placed this year, 77 were events; 9 were CITOs; 3 were EarthCaches; and 2 were virtuals.

To those who have met my challenge, THANK YOU! To those who accepted my challenge but have not yet met it for the year, you have 25 more days, so GO FOR IT! And to those who did not accept my challenge but placed physical caches anyway, thanks for your contribution to helping increase the number of new caches we can find in our state.

Last edited by OldRiverRunner; 12-26-2017 at 09:02 AM.

"Wildness is a necessity." -- John Muir

"I would rather wake up in the middle of nowhere than in any city on earth." -- Steve McQueen